Sight Unseen, the unusually compelling Donald Marguiles play
at Centenary Stage, conveys a strong sense of introspection and
honesty. Although it is not autobiographical in its details, it is
safe to say that it is revelatory of extremely personal and deep
seated concerns central to the very being of the author.

The very prickly and terribly self-centered protagonist is artist
Jonathan Waxman. His success and reputation are such that a list of
collectors are lined up to purchase each of his new paintings "sight
unseen." In England for a major gallery retrospective of his work, we
find Waxman in a cold farmhouse in Norfolk visiting his college
girlfriend Patricia whom he hasn't seen or contacted in fifteen years.
The financially struggling Patricia is married discontentedly to
Nick, an older, socially inept fellow archeologist. Patricia, who
still carries a torch for Jonathan, allows that her desire to remain
in England was a major consideration in her decision to marry Nick.
Jonathan, who is visiting with them for a nefarious, ulterior motive,
is cruelly unconcerned about any damage which his presence or actions
might do to them.

The action flows freely back and forth in time. The second scene
in which Jonathan is interviewed at a London art gallery by Grete, a
German art critic, is chronologically the last scene in the play (the
interview scene is concluded in the second scene of the second act).
The third scene occurs in the farmhouse one hour before the first
scene. The fourth (and last) first act scene occurs fifteen years
earlier in the Brooklyn home of Jonathan and his parents at the end of
his romance with Patricia. The terribly poignant final scene of the
play depicts their first meeting seventeen years before the
present.

How is it that one can care so strongly about Jonathan when he is
such a total louse? Marguiles' honest and heartfelt insights into
this surrogate creation enable us to sympathize with Jonathan and
understand the tortured soul which drives him. Although very
specifically tied here to the Jewish experience in America, one need
not be a member of any particular group to relate to the mixture of
pride and sensitivity, irrational self-hatred and need for acceptance
from the other which cuts deeply into the psyche of the reviled
societal outsider. Marguiles' Jonathan is troubled about the values
and heritage which he has abandoned in the course of his life's
journey. In his thematically related later play Brooklyn Boy,
Marguiles rues his protagonist's inability to return to his abandoned
heritage.

Contradicting any inference that Waxman is totally Marguiles is the
depth, understanding and sympathy with which Marguiles draws Patricia
and Nick. We are compelled to care about this living, breathing odd
couple who are striving to give meaning to frustrated lives.

Sight Unseen plays far more powerfully in the confines of
Centenary's intimate theatre than it did in its 2004 Broadway
production. It may well be that intimacy is the principal reason.
However, the performances of the roles of Jonathan, Patricia and Nick
are uncannily spot on. I feel like a voiceover from an old movie
trailer as I write that Gary Littman is Jonathan Waxman.
Littman embodies the tense, aggressive, outwardly cocksure, too
readily offended, manipulative artistic genius Waxman. He projects an
inner rage that is always present just below the surface, barely under
control even when things are going his way. Littman fully prepares us
for the moment when Jonathan angrily lashes out at the German Grete
(while she is interviewing him) for what he perceives as her
anti-Semitism. Whether her statement is anti-Semitic or not, Grete
certainly nails Jonathan's mindset when she states (with clear
reference to him) that Jews on the inside tend to think of themselves
as outsiders.

Dina Ann Comolli captures the longing and disappointment which have
already formed a permanent cloud over Patricia's life. As forlorn as her
hope is, Comolli moves us when she reveals through her intonations that she
still longs for a reconciliation with the indifferent, now married
with family, Jonathan. When asked if she ever regrets not having
married Jonathan, she responds "no, not me." However, with a nervous
shake of the head and the slight, panicky rise in her voice, Comolli
tells us that the only honest answer is "yes." Comolli is most
appealing and moving in the final scene, the start of her affair with
Jonathan. The contrast between her beaten down early middle age and
her radiant hopeful youth is heartbreaking.

Steven L. Barron's Nick is fully realized. His annoyingly
passive-aggressive Nick makes us as uncomfortable as it makes Patricia
to have Jonathan find her with him. Later, when Nick fights
desperately to save his marriage, Barron fully engages our sympathies.
Shannon Noecker is a strong, confident presence in the role of Grete.
Although Jonathan clearly jumps the gun when he accuses Grete of
anti-Semitism (the bigotry appears to belong to him) Noecker's
supercilious expression and proud posturing when the interview is
terminated imply that Jonathan may have been right in spite of
himself. (Although Jonathan is impressed with Grete's excellent
English, I think that a trace of a German accent would be appropriate
for her).

Steven Dennis seems to have captured every nuance of Marguiles
text. Dennis has elicited a seamless ensemble performance from his
fine cast. The design work is impeccable. Gordon Danielli's two
tiered set is solid, evocative, smartly laid out and eminently
playable. Will Rothfuss' lighting design is fluid and unobtrusive.
Julia Sharp's costumes accurately reflect the characters and their
(changing) age and status.

Donald Marguiles is in the front rank of today's American
playwrights, and Sight Unseen, the 1992 winner of the Obie
Award for Best American Play, is one of his finest plays. It is being
presented by the Centenary Stage Company in its Hackettstown home in
an exemplary, illuminatingly acted and staged production. It is
surely one of the dramatic highlights of the current NJ theatre
season, and well worth your time and attention.